ABSTRACT
Any consideration of the tumor dormant state must necessarily involve an appreciation of the immunologic balance struck between tumor and host. It may, however, be subject to abnormal immunoregulatory influences in its different habitats in the presence of tumor and quite apart from the peripheral blood. These influences may vary depending on body site and tumor type. The Tumoricidal function of peritoneal macrophages (PM) from ovarian cancer patients was significantly reduced compared to the tumoricidal function of the peripheral blood monocyte from the same patients. In a limited number of cases, the strategies for augmenting the tumoricidal function of tumor-associated macrophages have been tested against autologous tumor cells from ovarian cancer patients. The results of this investigation demonstrate that the tumoricidal function of alveolar macrophages from lung cancer patients or PM from ovarian cancer patients is reduced significantly compared to the tumoricidal function of the peripheral blood monocytes from the same patients.
